Tag Archives: liquid cooling

It’s unfortunate but accurate to say that people who wish or need to wear bulletproof vests do so at the cost of sacrificing their comfort. This is true most of all in warm weather where they will often simply be covered in sweat all day, until the tim comes where bullets directed at them are no longer a possibility. But a vest created by a Swiss company called Empa aims to change this. It’s outfitted with a cooling pad that they call the CoolPad, which is a semi-porous pouch that contains water. This water is able to gradually evaporate, cooling the air around it as it does so. The effect is further enhanced with the use of two little fans, which circulate the cooler air over the wearer’s body. It’s good for three to four hours of use before either the water or the batteries run out. However, it’s possible to refill the CoolPad with another portable refill station while the portable fans are also easily exchanged with ones that have fresh batteries, making it possible for an entire police force or army contingent to stay comfortable throughout the day.

“The garment has been tested in warm weather by the Zürich City police force, which reportedly gave it good reviews. It is now on its way to commercial production, with the help of business partner Unico Swiss Tex. ”

As a PC gamer, I like my machine running as efficiently as possible. This means that not only is my OS running as few unnecessary processes as possible, but my hardware is also staying nice and cool. You don’t need anything special to keep the software side of things running right, but having the right cooling system can make all of the difference in the world for your hardware.

The three things that are probably going to get the hottest in a machine are your CPU, GPU and hard drive. By using solid state drives I’ve all but eliminated the heat from the hard drive. Today we’ll be focusing on keeping the temperature down on your CPU.

It’s no surprise that liquid cooling is growing in popularity, as your computer can realize greater potential while generally running much quieter than with traditional air cooling. We’ve seen a number of offerings from CoolIT, who have really shaken things up with their simple all-in-one CPU cooling systems. These have been great because not only are they simple to setup, but they tend to be compatible with most CPU platforms that are still in use today. Unfortunately if you want to apply the same great cooling solutions to your graphics card, you’ll be forced to buy an entire solution aimed at your specific card. When you go to upgrade, you’ll need to buy a brand new cooler as well. This is something that CoolIT has finally addressed with their OMNI A.L.C. system.

The system is comprised of three parts. First you have the universal OMNI water block, which essentially does all of the work. Second you have a universal liquid plate, which keeps the cooling liquid flowing over the interposer plate. This third piece is what attaches directly to your graphics card. Since they have made the interposer plate separate from the actual liquid plate, you can simply switch this piece out when you decide to upgrade your graphics card.

OhGizmo! is a frequently updated blog that focuses on covering items that will appeal to a very specific and often very passionate audience: the geek. Aside from the fare of innovative consumer electronic products, the reader can expect to find news about geek culture, absurd inventions, awe inspiring technology, and an ever growing assortment of articles that we like to think fit within our view of what we’re calling the Geek Lifestyle.